17 October 2009

Performance POV // DON'T 'BRACE' YOURSELF

Yesterday I joined a local training group for a hard core boot-camp style workout on the beach. We were pinching ourselves that this workout venue is minutes away from our home and work places. Such an amazing way to start the day!

One of the drills we were given was 50 yards of bear crawls. Bear crawls are when you bend forward at the waist, put both hands and both feet on the ground, keep your hips high and walk forward on all fours. While doing my first set, I noticed my wrists were not happy. They were definitley irritated from being in that position and being worked as they were. My thoughts when that was happening: "Wow, that's right, I haven't been using my wrists this way for a while! This is great that they're getting worked!" Although it wasn't comfortable, I knew why, and since I was aware that they were not getting 'injured' with what I was doing with them I embraced the discomfort and told myself I'd better get back to doing my pillar bridges, push-ups and handwalks ASAP!

That said, upon finishing that part of the workout, I overheard another athlete mention to the coach that his wrists hurt doing the bear crawls. The coach's advice? "Make a fist. Keep your wrists straight. Do them that way. It won't hurt." A moment later I caught this athlete's eye and asked simply, "Have you put your wrist in that position at all lately?" Immediately a smile came on his face and he knowingly said, "No." I didn't even have to say another word. He said, "I get it." I told him I'd felt the same in my wrists and what my thought process was.

The cause of this very healthy, young person's pain was some immobility in his wrist. The advice he was given was to immobilize it further, practically like putting a cast or a brace on it. If you've ever had a cast on you know how stiff joints become. When the cast is taken off it's not that the muscles or joints are injured, they simply ache because they haven't been moved in a while. They WANT to move and little by little will move well again, IF you make them move.

This is a perfect example of why its important to continue to actively
move your body, with purpose, and understand all the ways it needs to be
challenged regularly, so that it can move however you want and need it
to all life long!

Think of ways in which you might 'brace' yourself, when what you might really need to do is to move (with understanding, purpose and precision of course.) Spend a moment finding a reason and a solution for your pain instead of taking the easy way out and compensating for it, which only leads to confusion down the road as to what the heart of the problem was in the first place. Choice of running shoes and/or orthodics, as well as decisions about bike position are some of the major ways in which endurance athletes tend to make decisions around what their body CAN'T do at the moment, and 'brace' themselves in those positions, instead of finding more sustainable, injury resistant, efficient and biomechanically correct solutions within the body itself, for their best performance.

Something like Core Performance's Movement Prep or incorporating yoga movements into your weekly regimen are great ways to make sure you maintain mobility, strength and stability in your bod.

Comments

Performance POV // DON'T 'BRACE' YOURSELF

Yesterday I joined a local training group for a hard core boot-camp style workout on the beach. We were pinching ourselves that this workout venue is minutes away from our home and work places. Such an amazing way to start the day!

One of the drills we were given was 50 yards of bear crawls. Bear crawls are when you bend forward at the waist, put both hands and both feet on the ground, keep your hips high and walk forward on all fours. While doing my first set, I noticed my wrists were not happy. They were definitley irritated from being in that position and being worked as they were. My thoughts when that was happening: "Wow, that's right, I haven't been using my wrists this way for a while! This is great that they're getting worked!" Although it wasn't comfortable, I knew why, and since I was aware that they were not getting 'injured' with what I was doing with them I embraced the discomfort and told myself I'd better get back to doing my pillar bridges, push-ups and handwalks ASAP!

That said, upon finishing that part of the workout, I overheard another athlete mention to the coach that his wrists hurt doing the bear crawls. The coach's advice? "Make a fist. Keep your wrists straight. Do them that way. It won't hurt." A moment later I caught this athlete's eye and asked simply, "Have you put your wrist in that position at all lately?" Immediately a smile came on his face and he knowingly said, "No." I didn't even have to say another word. He said, "I get it." I told him I'd felt the same in my wrists and what my thought process was.

The cause of this very healthy, young person's pain was some immobility in his wrist. The advice he was given was to immobilize it further, practically like putting a cast or a brace on it. If you've ever had a cast on you know how stiff joints become. When the cast is taken off it's not that the muscles or joints are injured, they simply ache because they haven't been moved in a while. They WANT to move and little by little will move well again, IF you make them move.

This is a perfect example of why its important to continue to actively
move your body, with purpose, and understand all the ways it needs to be
challenged regularly, so that it can move however you want and need it
to all life long!

Think of ways in which you might 'brace' yourself, when what you might really need to do is to move (with understanding, purpose and precision of course.) Spend a moment finding a reason and a solution for your pain instead of taking the easy way out and compensating for it, which only leads to confusion down the road as to what the heart of the problem was in the first place. Choice of running shoes and/or orthodics, as well as decisions about bike position are some of the major ways in which endurance athletes tend to make decisions around what their body CAN'T do at the moment, and 'brace' themselves in those positions, instead of finding more sustainable, injury resistant, efficient and biomechanically correct solutions within the body itself, for their best performance.

Something like Core Performance's Movement Prep or incorporating yoga movements into your weekly regimen are great ways to make sure you maintain mobility, strength and stability in your bod.